Illegal worker gets 6 months in jail

18 January 2011, 17:56 | Updated: 18 January 2011, 17:59

Officers from the UK Border Agency discovered a Nigerian woman working illegally as a cleaner when they searched her locker at IBC vehicles in Luton, a court has heard.

Juliet Okoroafor, 36, cried throughout the hearing at Luton Crown Court on Tuesday which ended with her being jailed for six months.

She pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing false passports and two charges of possessing fake Home Office letters.

Claudette Elliott, prosecuting said the search at the Kimpton Road factory took place on Jan 6 this year.

In her locker was a passport in her name which was a fake, another in the name of another Nigerian woman and one of the letters which purported to show she was legally entitled to work.

Her home in Belmont Road, Luton was also searched and another fake Home Office letter was found under a mattress.

Steven Garratt, defending said she had been in the UK since 2003 and was now married to a man with full EU citizenship.

She was alone and abandoned by her family in Nigeria.

"She used the documents to get work in an unglamorous job. She was not living a lavish life. The thought of custody frightens her greatly."

Judge Michael Kay QC told her that her immigration status would have to be decided by the Home Office.